The First Lesson of the School Year

"Basalt..." Huo Yuhao repeated in his heart. By now, changes of this magnitude had already left him numb.

Moreover, the extent of this change was very similar to Brother Bei Bei; both had transformed from martial souls containing the bloodline of a divine beast directly into the true divine beast martial soul itself.

However, Huo Yuhao remembered that divine beast martial souls, in addition to powerful strength, should also impose a massive burden on the body. In his past life, during the Spirit Master Tournament, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi had indeed successfully triggered their divine beast bloodlines, but without exception, both had suffered a tremendous burden on their spirit power.

Yet, as things stood, they seemed no different from normal people, and Brother Bei Bei hadn't shown any particular strain when using his martial soul.

Had the burden of the divine beast bloodline itself decreased... or had the physical constitution of the people on the Douluo Continent improved?

"Thank you, Brother Zhou Yuan. Knowing this is enough!"

"Hey, that's nothing. If you have anything else you want to know in the future, just come find me!"

After chatting a bit more with Zhou Yuan, Huo Yuhao bid farewell to the crowd and headed to the cafeteria. But before leaving, he couldn't help but glance at Jiang Nannan, who had already departed, and Xu Sanshi, who was holding flowers with a dejected expression.

As expected... there is still some conflict between the two. Huo Yuhao shook his head. Reality had been altered beyond recognition; his experience from his past life... aside from recognizing certain people, was basically useless. He wasn't about to rashly guess the true nature of their relationship.

Let's just adapt to life at this school first. There will be plenty of time later for me to see exactly what kind of shape that Pope has twisted this world into.

In the afternoon, it was time for the students to officially report to their classrooms.

Huo Yuhao wore the issued white school uniform, with the emblem of the Martial Soul Hall pinned to his chest.

However, this emblem was currently the same white as the uniform, making it impossible to distinguish the two without a close look.

Huo Yuhao walked into the classroom and chose a seat in the middle, slightly toward the front. Based on experience, this was the most comfortable position for his neck when looking at the blackboard, offered the best view, and most importantly, was the place most likely to catch a teacher's attention.

Admittedly, he found Zhou Yi's teaching philosophy not only extreme but bordering on insane, yet to him, she was undoubtedly a mentor worthy of respect.

Therefore, he wanted to see what kind of person this "other" Zhou Yi was, and what her stated teaching philosophy actually looked like.

The classroom was not quiet at the moment; after all, most were just six-year-old children. Huo Yuhao didn't mind, simply opening the textbook that had already been distributed on his desk and flipping through the one labeled "History."

At this moment, Huo Yuhao, quietly reading his book, was an anomaly in the classroom. Everyone else was either chatting with new friends they had just met or wandering around the room out of boredom.

Suddenly, a loud knock on the door rang out, but the sound didn't draw everyone's attention; the classroom remained quite noisy.

It wasn't until the whispers of "The teacher is here!" spread from the doorway throughout the room that everyone hurriedly scrambled to find a seat. Moreover, most of them were fighting for the seats in the back.

It was fortunate that the number of desks and chairs in the classroom corresponded exactly to the number of students, otherwise, Huo Yuhao might have ended up being the one sitting furthest in the front of the entire room.

"...Sigh, it seems you students aren't very satisfied that your homeroom teacher is an old hag."

Zhou Yi looked at the students in the classroom with some disappointment, sighing as she walked onto the podium. But when she saw Huo Yuhao, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in her eyes.

In an instant, the two exchanged a look.

"But fortunately, there are still some little ones who give me some face. Since that's the case, I can't stay so gloomy."

Zhou Yi first revealed a smile, then, caught off guard, she slammed her lesson plan onto the podium, leaned her hands on it, and looked at everyone with a serious expression:

"The giggling and chatting ends here. Let me introduce myself first."

"I am Zhou Yi. Starting today, for the next six years, I will be your homeroom teacher. At the Spirit Soul Academy, the primary division is the easiest time; the courses and assignments are the simplest. But don't think you can treat this place like a playground at home."

"The ease of the courses and schoolwork is so that you can increase your spirit power during the age when your spirit power cultivation is fastest. Anyone who is a spirit master can enter the primary division, because for the Martial Soul Hall, it doesn't take many resources to raise a group of spirit masters. You can just consider it the Pope doing charity."

"However, advancing from the primary division to the intermediate division, and then to the advanced division, requires passing assessments. Unless you can bridge a gap of twenty levels of spirit power, you had best tighten your grip on these six years."

"Heh, but if you really can do that, then you don't need to bother taking exams for the intermediate or advanced divisions—just go take the exam for the unrestricted division."

Although Zhou Yi's words were a bit difficult to understand, the children successfully extracted the key points.

Most of the children immediately straightened their posture from their previously lazy positions, while Huo Yuhao maintained his own comfortable posture.

In Huo Yuhao's view, an overly deliberate posture did nothing to improve learning efficiency; it was better to just sit comfortably.

Zhou Yi scanned the room once more, and upon confirming that most were prepared, she picked up her lesson plan and began the first lesson without any hesitation:

"My subject is Douluo History. Take out your books and turn directly to page thirty-seven."

Hearing this, Huo Yuhao was stunned for a moment. Was she not planning to cover the first thirty-six pages?

The students all had the same confusion, and soon someone raised their hand to ask:

"Teacher, the content of the first thirty-six pages..."

"The content of the first thirty-six pages is elective. If you are interested, study it in your spare time. I won't require it, and it won't be on the exam."

Huo Yuhao's eyebrows twitched. What did she mean by "it won't be on the exam"? Why did that reason sound so... perfunctory?

Before class, he had flipped through the first few pages. The content of the first thirty-six pages should have covered the history of fifteen thousand years ago, mainly focusing on the establishment and development of the Martial Soul Hall. No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like content that could just be skipped...

After all, this was a school founded by the Martial Soul Hall, yet they didn't care about their own history?

Huo Yuhao found it strange no matter how he thought about it, but now was the time for the actual lesson. He decided to save his curiosity for after class. Thinking this, Huo Yuhao picked up his pen and began taking notes along with Zhou Yi.

However, at that very moment, a voice reached his ear:

"Classmate, classmate? Do you have a spare pen? Can I borrow one? I... forgot to bring one today."

The source of the voice made Huo Yuhao freeze. He turned his head to see a little girl with powder-blue hair leaning over while Zhou Yi was writing on the blackboard, looking at him with an expectant expression.

"Classmate? Classmate?"